Not your ordinary Tuesday

This morning I got up extra early so that I could get to the fitness center in time for both a 2.0 mile treadmill run and at least half of my regular strength workout. Why? Well, tomorrow I have an early morning meeting which means no time for the fitness center and I didn't want to miss a run now that I'm just in the process of re-establishing my running habit.

While I was pulling out of the garage. I noticed that it had snowed a little bit last night. Not a lot, just a nice dusting. It was pretty.

But pulling out onto the road, it didn't seem quite so pretty. Surprise! The roads were ICY. I decided to keep going, took it slow, put it in 4wheel drive, and hoped that nobody in front of me would stop when I was trying to get up the hill. I later found out that Husband was not quite as fortunate and had to stop to help push two cars that had gotten stuck up while going up the same hill when he came into work a little later in the morning.

Long story short, I made it up to work and got my workout done in a mostly deserted fitness center. I also got a nice parking spot in a mostly derserted parking lot. Good thing, because I kinda slid into it in a somewhat uncontrolled fashion. ;)

The kids ended up having a day off school, which made them happy. The roads were all cleared up by the time I was on my way home from the office, so that made me happy.

It wasn't an ordinary Tuesday, but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

Week in Review

I think I'd give it a B+

All weekday workouts completed per plan. I only ran a total of 8 miles over three days, but that's better than the 2.4 miles last week, and wayyy better than the 0 miles the week before (and before and before and before). I went with a 4:2 run/walk for the sake of trying to remain injury free. I would like to run 4-5 miles one day this weekend and take the other day off. I have errands to do today and I didn't run in the morning, so it is looking like tomorrow will be my run day.

Next week's game plan will be the same, with some added focus on increasing the distance of those short runs.

I ended up not going to the DMV to take my test for the permit. I was on my way there and decided that I really should study a little bit more, so I turned around and came home. I then proceeded to fill my day with things other than studying. Now I'm aiming for some time next week.

On a completely unrelated topic. As my kids (ages 16 and 14) get older, I'm finding myself feeling less and less needed. I don't like it one bit. I'm not looking forward to them get old enough to leave the house, which could potentially be a just a few years for the older one. Is it just me?

Checkin' in

On the exercise front:

• Ran 2.6 miles on Monday
• Completed my strength workout on Tuesday
• Ran 3.3 miles today (Wed)

Again, no speed or distance records, but I'm getting some running in and staying to my plan. I am confident that I will complete my strength workout tomorrow and Friday's planned run because I'm actually looking forward to both. Yay for what appears to be the return of the missing motivation!!

On the weight front:

• Not happy with the scale

At work we have an annual health-for-life program where we get blood work and such. As I mentioned before, my weight is up 5 lbs from last year. I'd like to think it is from an increase in muscle, but my percent body fat is higher as well, so that theory is pretty much out the window. Grumble grumble grumble...

On the scooter front:

• Helmet purchased
• Grip lock ordered, should arrive this weekend

I'm going to attempt to get my learners permit Friday morning. This requires passing a written test that I've only loosely studied for. I figure that if I fail, I'll at least know what kind of questions to study for next time.

Once I get my learners permit, I may buy the scooter within a week. They have one last one in a discontinued color that I like. If they sell that before I get my act together, it is okay. In any event, I still need jacket and gloves before I can ride it. And I'm still not quite sure how to get it home from the dealer...exploring options there.

On the Bandit front:

• duck and potato diet made him gassy
• back on lamb & rice

I said I'd let you know how that was going. As it turns out, I'll never know how the other diet might have worked for his ears / skin allergies because it had other negative effects with his digestive system. We're back to square one.

Steps in the Right Direction

They say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I'm going to start looking forward just a few steps at a time in the short term to make sure I'm headed in the right direction. Then I'll start looking a little farther forward.

Plan for the weekdays this week: Running Mon/Wed/Fri - on treadmill if not outside - no excuses! Strength at the gym Tue/Thu.

I'll worry about the weekend when it gets closer.

Todays' run is in the books.

Note to self: See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?!?!

STOP THE PRESSES!!

I dragged my lazy bum out the door, to the gym, and stepped on the treadmill. No speed or distance records, but 2.5 miles later I stepped off. At long last, I can finally say:

I RAN TODAY!!

You may now resume your regular blog reading.

This, That, and the Other

Weight Status -

Not great. I seem to be stuck. I'm at -3 of -8, which also means I'm +5 of goal weight which is +5 of my weight at this same time last year. And I have less than a month to go. I've decided to devise some way to pro-rate my challenge prize to myself. The idea of all or nothing makes me want to throw the weight goal out the window because I won't make it. The idea of pro-rating the prize makes me want to keep at it.

Progress at the Gym -

The weight gloves make a difference. And I upped the weight on a few more exercises so now I'm doing more weight on all but one so far. I'm quite pleased with that.

Missing in Action -

Anything remotely resembling triathlon training. Sigh. But I'm hoping for an improvement in the weather and/or an improvement in my motivation. SOON.

Random Fact about my Computer -

I think something is wrong with my computer. I seem to go through mice every few weeks. I seriously think my computer does something to them to cause them to fail. And what is with the touchpad thingy that is built into the laptop? I hate that thing. I like the little red pointer mouse thing on my work laptop much better.

Random Fact about the Scooter pursuit -

I'm planning to go to the Scooter store tomorrow. I have given myself permission to buy a helmet, jacket, and gloves if I find something that I like and fits. I need these things before getting the scooter and/or before taking the Motorcycle Safety Course. I'm still not sure if I'm going to try to get a permit (pass the written test), then get the scooter, then take the course on my scooter for the full endorsement OR if I'm going to try to take the course first (on a motorcycle) for the full endorsement before bringing the scooter home.

Random Fact about B'days

Son turns 16 on Sunday (in three days). Husband turns 47 three weeks later. I turn 43 three days after that. We have quite a cluster of b'days coming up. Daughter is out there on her own in early November

Two more in the books

Two more strength sessions in the books. After my latest increasing of weights, my palms are getting all chewed up and I'm either gonna' end up with nice calluses or ugly blisters if I don't go out and get some weight gloves. It's all good though! I feel like that's just another indication that I'm really making progress.

It's worth mentioning that I have been the only woman in the gym at the small fitness center that I go to in the morning (at least at the time that I go) for the entire time that I've been going there. It used to make me feel weak and silly when I thought about what I was doing compared to those muscular men. It took awhile, but I don't worry about that anymore. At this point, I have come to the conclusion that most people at the gym really take much more than a passing glance at the other people there unless they are using the machine that they want to use. We're all just there to do whatever we set out to do for the day; getting that done is the focus, the people at the gym are just distractions.

Preoccupied

I have so many excuses not to get outside and run. It's sad really. Yesterday and today, I blamed it on the weather. Any kind of moisture falling from the sky and I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to run. Fair weather runner, that's me. Last week, I blamed it on the weather also. There wasn't any rain, but it was too cold. And before that...I forget, but I'm sure I had reason that made sense at the time. Yeah, I know, LAME. Sigh.

Tomorrow morning, I *will* head to the gym for strength training because it's never too cold outside to do weight work indoors. And strength training is the one thing that I have been consistent about in the past month.

So, you may wonder what the heck I have been doing since I've obviously been doing a whole lotta' nuttin' in the exercise department.

Quite honestly, I've been preoccupied with another goal. By Mid-March I hope to be able to commute on something way more environmentally friendly than my SUV. Specifically, I'm working toward my class W motorcycle endorsement so that I can start scootin' to work on something like this:

I might just start a second blog so as not to clutter this one with my new adventures in pursuit of becoming a "Scootin' Commuter". Or don't you mind coming along for that ride as well? Let me know what you think.

In any event, I think that my exercise/race goals for 2008 will become more clear once I'm no longer preoccupied with making this other thing happen.

*This photo is one of the scooters that I'm seriously considering. But not necessarily the one that I will end up with; I haven't made a final decision yet.

Making progress

I got to log my first strength workout of the year in my handy dandy sparkly new logbook.

Being a new year and a new log book, I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder if we can increase the weights on any of these exercises?"

And my Self, being equally intrigued with the notion, gave it an honest attempt.

I am pleased to report that I was able to up the weight on about a third of the exercises that I am doing. Surely that's a sign of progress. More muscle mass, right? And doesn't muscle mass equal more strength and a higher metabolism or something like that?

Anyway, I'm sticking to the current weights on the other exercises, and will try this experiment again in another month or so to see if I'm ready to up the weight on any of those at that time.

Side note - I have been doing my stregth workouts at the fitness center at work, not at a traditional stand-alone gym. It's very convenient in the mornings and they have everything that I want at the moment except for a pool. I expected to see several new faces this morning, there were none. Guess the New Year resolutionists are busy taking up space at other gyms. That's just fine with me.

And another side note - Bandit does have a yeast infection in both ears. He's doing better after the first day of ear washing and ear drops, but I'm now concerned about what might have caused this. After talking to the vet and doing some research on my own, I believe he might have food allergies. So we're experimenting with new foods again. First up...a duck and potato diet that has good reviews among the canine allergy community. Of course not all dog allergies are caused by the same thing, but I'll let you know how it goes..

Wednesday Weigh-In

Gotta keep it short because I need to go to work and I'm running late. Actually, I'm going to be late on purpose because I want to call the vet when they open to see if I can get an appt for Bandit because we think he has an ear infection. On the off chance that I can get him in this morning, I'm planning to call from home rather than the office. But anyway...

I had to weigh myself 3 separate times this morning to make sure I was reading it correctly. I was amazed that the scale returned another lower number.

I'm now -3.5 of the desired -8.0 by my birthday. I have about 6 weeks to go.